Himalayan Art Festival 2023

KATHMANDU: From the 7th to the 13th of Bhadra 2080, the most high-class and comprehensive art exhibition of Nepal is going to be held at the Nepal Art Council, Babar Mahal.

The exhibition named Himalayan Art Festival has been organized by E-Arts Nepal continuously since 2017 every year on the occasion of Dashain, the great festival of Nepali people.

Aasha Dangol, co-founder of E-Arts Nepal, further explains about the Himalayan Art Festival, “Many fairs are organized during Dashain, but none of them showcased Nepali art, considering that situation, we have been organizing this festival since 2017 with the contemporary situation and encouragement of Nepali artists.”

Artist Dangol says that the purpose of this exhibition is to decorate Nepali artworks in the homes of Nepalese people.

Earlier it was said that it would be difficult to buy Nepali artwork, but now it is going to be exhibited at an attractive price for middle-class families.

More than 80 artists have exhibited their art. Participating artists also say that this exhibition will play an important role in measuring the level of art of Nepali artists as this exhibition also helps to understand where the art sector of Nepal is. It can also determine the basis for the development of art.

A total of 50 artists participated in this festival, which started in 2017 with contemporary paintings and sculptures.

Since 2018, artist Dangol says that HAF Team has been talking to various organizations of artists in Kathmandu Valley and getting their support and adding more artists. For this reason, this art exhibition is being organized as a large collective fair every year.

Various genres of art have been included in the current exhibition. The works of Nepali senior artists and artists of the current generation have been put in the exhibition. Artists like Krishna Manandhar, Kiran Manandhar, Shashikala Tiwari, Rajan Kafle, Aasha Dangol, Erina Tamrakar, Bhairaj Marhajan, Pramila Bajracharya, Pradip Bajracharya, Binod Pradhan, Jupiter Pradhan, Bidhata KC, Sagar Manandhar, Ujay Bajracharya, Sarita Dongol, Ishan Pariyar, Sabita Dangol, Sujan Dangol, Muna Bhadel etc. The artworks of around 80 artists can be seen in one gallery.

Another attraction of the exhibition is the creation of a special place for a senior artist and the program where his artwork will be kept there, says Bhairaj Marhajan, co-founder of E-Arts Nepal, which has been running since 2019.

On this occasion, he also informed that the artwork of senior artist and sculptor Professor Govind Narayan Jyapoo will be exhibited in that place.

The participation of artists from mountains, hills and Terai is in this exhibition. Erina Tamrakar, another artist participating in this exhibition and co-founder of E-Arts Nepal, said that there is going to be significant participation of women artists.

The seven-day-long festival will be vibrant, lively and full of various art activities such as Art Talk, Guided Tour and Prashanta Scholarship Award.

According to the management committee on the 24th of August, the exhibition will be open and the honouring the maestro Govinda Narayan Jya-Poo will be done. On the 26th, the curator of the festival Pratima Thakali would be giving a guided tour.

On the 27th, a Panel discussion will be held. On the 29th Prashanta Scholarship Award would be provided to three of the deserving young artists whereas 30th, there would be the ending ceremony of the program.